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Routes announced for UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate 2019

The full routes and race schedule for the Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships have been officially unveiled in Innsbruck (Austria).

The racing starts on Saturday 21 September with Para-cycling events before the first UCI World Champions are crowned the following day with the maiden Team Time Trial Mixed Relay. This event will replace the separate men’s and women’s trade team time trials, and will be contested by national teams consisting of three male riders and three female riders. The male athletes will ride first and the women will replace them on the road as soon as the second male rider has crossed the finish line. Final timings will be taken when the second female rider crosses the finish line, with the fastest team declared the winner.

The Yorkshire 2019 programme will continue through until Sunday 29th September with Individual Time Trials and Road Races for Junior (Under 18), Under 23 and Elite male and female riders.

Harrogate will serve as the destination town for every race, with start locations across the county to ensure the Championships reach as many people as possible.

The 2018 Championships are currently taking place in Innsbruck-Tirol and Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity DL led a packed presentation of the Yorkshire 2019 event on Wednesday evening. He was joined on stage by UCI President David Lappartient, British Cycling CEO Julie Harrington, and Great Britain riders Alex Dowsett and Hayley Simmonds. Prime Minister Theresa May concluded the presentation via video message, lending the UK Government’s full support.

The Championships are receiving unprecedented financial backing with the UK Government and UK Sport committing £12 million to deliver a truly world-class event. A further £15 million has been allocated to develop entry-level cycling facilities across England. This commitment means that the 2019 UCI Road World Championships will deliver a legacy that will transform the sporting fabric of the country.

It is a great honour to be hosting the 2019 UCI Road World Championships. This will be the most inclusive and diverse Championships ever held and cement Yorkshire’s place as a world-class cycling destination.

The countdown is now well and truly on and there will be many people in Yorkshire and across Britain who are looking forward to this iconic event. We can promise huge, passionate crowds, stunning scenery and epic racing.

We have worked hard with the UCI to design a challenging and spectacular range of routes which take in all four corners of the county. We are thrilled to be able to share these routes and are sure they will make for exciting racing.

UCI President David Lappartient said:

After the Tour de France Grand Départ in 2014 and the consequent creation of the legacy Tour de Yorkshire, this magnificent region has left us in no doubt that the 2019 UCI Road World Championships will be a memorable occasion.

The competitions in Yorkshire will open with the new Team Time Trial Mixed Relay, a UCI initiative that will replace the trade team time trial and will see men and women competing together for their nation. I cannot wait to witness this first-ever Team Time Trial Mixed Relay, which is part of the UCI’s drive to further increase the attractiveness of our Road World Championships, encourage gender equality, and showcase National Federations and their riders.

In addition, the 2019 UCI Road World Championships will be taking place less than a year out from the Olympic Games, with riders seeking to earn precious qualification points for Tokyo 2020. This will add to the excitement of the racing on the roads of Yorkshire.

Yorkshire 2019 Chair Chris Pilling said:

We have pledged to deliver an inclusive, innovative and inspiring UCI Road World Championships that brings the world closer. We are therefore enormously excited to be the first host to integrate Para-cycling into the programme and the first host to deliver the brand-new Team Time Trial Mixed Relay.

These races will help deliver on our pledge and will get the Championships off to a flying start. Every day the riders will visit new places and encounter different challenges in what will be an unforgettable festival of bike racing.

Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport said:

This event is going to be one of the highlights of 2019 as the best cyclists in the world go head to head on Yorkshire’s stunning rolling hills. It is fantastic that inclusivity is at the heart of these Championships with a day of world-class para-cycling and the new Team Time Trial Mixed Relay event introduced. We want to encourage everybody to get involved in sport and events such as this can inspire many people to do just that.

British Cycling CEO Julie Harrington said:

We believe that cycling has the ability to take on some of the biggest challenges facing our society, and the legacy and inspiration that we can harness from next year’s Championships in Yorkshire is another vital step on our journey to transform Britain into a great cycling nation.

We’re determined to ensure that the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire doesn’t just change the lives of those collecting a rainbow jersey, but the lives of the children, families and everyone who discovers – or rediscovers – the simple pleasure of riding a bike as a result.

Full details on the Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships can be found at http://Yorkshire2019.co.uk

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